Archive for the ‘outdoors’ Category

On March 1, the primary teachers study group met at the Richmond Nature Park. We shared resources for learning about local living things and discussed the different services the Nature Park provides to schools and the community. The Nature Park is situated on a bog which is a very unique ecosystem.

We visited different areas of the park, watching the birds come and go from the feeders, walking along the trails and boardwalk area.

How does looking closely at a found object help you think about its story? What is the story of this (skeleton) leaf?

There was still snow on the ground in some of the more shaded areas of the park and we used the snow as a story context. How could we use the snow as a background for map-making? We used found natural materials to create a map of a special place to inspire memories and story.

The Nature House has lots of interactive displays. living things (including a functioning bee hive), and lots of information about species of plants and animals living in Richmond. Brochures are available listing local plants, birds and insects as well as brochures with self-guided tours of the park. We were all keen to continue to build our own knowledge of local species to be able to weave this knowledge into the outdoor learning experiences we are creating for our students.

On December 7, Anne-Marie Fenn hosted our primary teachers study group at Woodward Elementary. We went outside and Anne-Marie shared the vision and plans for their new outdoor learning space.

As the sun was going down, we played with the elements of light and shadow and considered ways we could include these ideas into our outdoor (or indoor) storytelling experiences, thinking about how these ideas might enhance or add new problems to students’ stories.

After coming back in to Anne-Marie’s classroom as it started to get dark, teachers shared different outdoor storytelling experiences they had tried with their students.

On September 21, our primary teachers study group came together for our first session of this school year, hosted by Anna Nachbar at McNeely Elementary. Our focus this year, as chosen by participants, is outdoor storytelling experiences, connecting multiple areas of the curricula. This collaborative professional inquiry draws upon the work we did last year as a group around outdoor learning in general and also draws upon our district’s three year Playful Storytelling through the First Peoples Principles of Learning project. Some ideas from that project were compiled and shared with the group and can be downloaded here: SD38_Playful_Storytelling_FPPL_Ideas

Books that we will be working with together this fall include teacher resources and children’s books:

We will be compiling ideas that are inspired by these books to share with others.

After coming together in a circle and introducing ourselves, we shared ideas about working with groups of children at the beginning of the year with regards to learning outdoors. We then ventured out to the “McNeely forest” and spent time in the space noticing how the space might inspire storytelling. How do small spaces and big spaces allow for different storytelling experiences? What natural materials could students gather to contribute to their stories? How might a connection to place and knowledge of local plants and animals enhance their stories?

I brought out a bag of materials as a way to extend the experience – a collection of fabrics and some wooden and plastic animals. How do these materials extend or inhibit the storytelling experience? Teachers came together in small groups to create and share stories and new ideas for storytelling that emerged through being outside and talking together.

One area of discussion was what to do in schools that don’t have a wooded area such as the one McNeely does. Some schools are using a garden bed and using it as a story garden. Another idea is to create small worlds using pots, planters or window boxes – plants can be created and pieces of wood, rocks and shells can be used to landscape a setting. How might the difference heights in a tree (base, trunk, branches) be used to create multi-level stories? Most schools have a few garden beds near their entrances – could one be used for storytelling? What characters might visit that space?

Although registration filled up very quickly for this group, we will continue to share our thinking and experiences through twitter and this blog. We will be coming together in November at Woodward Elementary in their new outdoor learning space.

This little book packed with inspiration is part of a broader Going Wild series of books of which I have many (yes, I have a book problem). I also have The Stick Book, The Wild Weather Book, The Wild City Book, Nature’s Playground, Go Wild! and Make It Wild! All of these books are full of inspiring photographs of children experiencing and learning outdoors.

The Beach Book is divided into seven sections – bookended with an overview of things to think about before heading to the beach and a final section on important safety reminders. The seven sections are: beach adventures, beach wildlife, beach games, beach art, beach imagination, beach at night and beach rubbish. Some of the explorations in each section are very open while others are more structured. They all make use of the natural environment, the materials the beach offers, and what is available to see and do at a beach. There are lots of curricular connections – big ideas, core competencies, place, story, mathematics, science, visual arts and more.

The authors define beach as “where water meets land” – and make a case for visiting beaches all year round so that we understand that these are special places worth taking care of.

spiral with driftwood at Garry Point, Steveston, BC

I know this is a book that I will pull out again and again for ideas and inspiration. Am looking forward to finally digging into the other books in this series as well.

For our third session of our Creating Spaces for Playful Inquiry dinner series, Richmond educators came together at Grauer Elementary to share and learn together. This year at our sessions we have focused on broad themes or big ideas that cut across curriculum areas and grade levels, beginning with community, then identity and for our third time together this year, we chose to focus on place. Those that attended our Lower Mainland study tour to the Opal School in Portland created panels reflecting on their experience. Many of our playful inquiry mentors set up either pedagogical provocations or shared provocations they developed to engage their students.

Four teachers shared their experiences visiting Opal for the first or second time – what had an impact on them and how it is affecting their practice. Thank you to April, Louesa, Laurie and Karen for your thoughtful and passionate presentations!

Based on feedback from the mentor groups during our January session, Michelle Hikida and I did a short professional learning presentation on playful mathematical inquiry and how we plan around a big idea, use provocations and projects based on students’ interests and curiosities and how we extend and sustain a math inquiry.

After dinner together, we spent time in our mentor groups, zooming in on an area of interest and sharing and learning from each other.

We are looking forward to continuing working together next year to support professional learning and building a playful inquiry community across our district.

For our sixth and final session of the year, the primary teachers study group met at Blair Elementary. Thank you to Karen, Robyn and Tanyia for hosting us!

We broke into small groups and worked on our environmental inquiry visual – still a work in progress! Lots of great feedback from the group.

We then toured the outdoor learning spaces at Blair. I was the teacher-librarian at Blair for three years when I introduced Spuds in Tubs to the school – since then the school has embraced school gardens and many of the teachers have made outdoor learning and integral part of their programs. April and Karen shared how they use some of the typical suburban school spaces around the school for outdoor learning and also shared how they involved the district Works Yard employees in creating an outdoor classroom space and storage.

There was much talk about school gardening as a way to get students outdoors and feeling connected. We left thinking about ways to continue our work around environmental inquiry and creating opportunities for students to take action and take care of the outdoor spaces at their schools.

Next year, our primary teachers study group will be entering its fifteenth year as a professional learning structure in our school district!

For our after spring break session, we met at Steves Elementary, hosted by Kathleen Paiger. After sharing some of the outdoor learning experiences we were engaging in, we began to co-construct a visual of sorts to show the process of environmental inquiry that we have been working towards together this school year. For many teachers in the group – the first stages have been the focus: getting outside, noticing and naming local plants and animals, being curious and connecting. Drawing upon the work of David Suzuki, Ann Pelo and many others, we know these initial stages are essential if children are to care about the environment.

What we discussed, and connecting to last year’s Natural Curiosity seminar that some of us attended, was that getting outdoors and gardening, although important, is not the overall goal of environmental inquiry. We want to find opportunities for students to take action, to take up a concern or issue that emerges or that they are noticing in their environment.

Kathleen regularly takes her kindergarten students for walks in their neighbourhood which includes the west dyke. We ventured out together and learned about some of the story of this place – the farmland, the coyotes and the birds that frequent the wetland areas.

And as the weather eventually warms up, we know there will be lots of opportunities for our classes to get outside, to notice and wonder. We are using these three picture books this spring to inspire us.

For our fourth session together this year, we gathered after school at Errington Elementary to share what outdoor inquiry experiences we had engaged in with students. There were many attempts at freezing bubbles, tracking different animals’ movements in the snow, looking closely at ice, snow and their affects on the environment, investigating melting of ice and snow and creating new experiences for students to experience the outdoors in winter.

Our discussions took several turns…self-regulations, navigating how much we share about our personal choices such as vegetarianism with our students, the benefits of risky play. Here is a link to the UBC research that study group member Megan Zeni referred to as we discussed the benefits of outdoor risky play.

We ended our session discussing the upcoming forecast for more snow and the eventual arrival of spring!

Thank you to Stephanie (Merrick) Rubio for hosting us in her lovely classroom!

The Primary Teachers Study Group had their third session of the year at Woodward Elementary, hosted by Anne-Marie Fenn. Anne-Marie shared the school’s plan for an outdoor learning space and then we went outside to imagine how the current garden space will be transformed.

Teachers were able to purchase pictures books that are intended to inspire students’ wondering about winter. Sizing Up Winter is a book that inspires mathematical inquiry around measurement, In The Snow: Who’s Been Here? has students consider ways to know whether an animal has visited different parts of the environment and Curious About Snow shares factual information and photographs of snow – sure to inspire lots of questions, particularly with the very wintery weather we have had this year.

Teachers shared ways that had been engaging their students in inquiry about the outdoors and winter – freezing bubbles, looking for tracks, creating icy sun catchers, learning about animal behaviour in winter.

Jenn Lin from Maple Lane shared how she had guest speakers in from the Institute for Urban Ecology atDouglas College to teach her class about the important role bees play in the environment and then the students made bee containers/nests.

What are your students wondering about this winter? Where do the bees go? Where do the raccoons and birds find food? What do the snow geese eat when the ground is frozen and covered with snow? Do trees freeze? Are your students making connections between how the weather and seasons are affecting other living things around them?